In 1926 Sakichi established Toyoda Loom Works Limited. Three years later he sold the patent rights to company in England. This money was later used to set up a car-building department. Kiichiro Toyoda, Sakichi's son, was the man behind the car-building department.

During this time there were few cars in Japan. And most of them were American cars. The American cars were brought into the country to get it mobile again after the devastating Kanto earthquake of 1923. The Three car builders, GM, Ford, Chrysler established a very strong foothold in Japan by 1928. They even had their own assembly plants in Japan. So they dominated the car building industry. Well so they thought!

The Government did impose some restrictions. During this time Kiichiro was visiting American and European auto manufacturers. Kiichiro majored in Mechanical Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University. And in 1930 decided to build a 4hp two-cylinder engine. It was based on an already built American Smith-Power unit.

But nothing really happened for a few years to follow. The Japanese philosophy is never to rush into things until all angles have been explored. In 1932 Kiichiro built a prototype called the Atsuta. This was not satisfactory.

In 1935 the model A-1 was built. It featured a Chrysler Air-flow body, based on a Chevrolet chassis. Even the Straight six-cylinder engine was a copy of the Chevrolet engine.

In 1936 the AA, A direct development of the A-1 was built.

In the following year the Toyota Motor company was formed.

All future vehicles would be given the Toyota name.

The birth of Toyota coincided with a new sense of Nationalism! At that time the Government was run by the Military. The government noticed the large amount of cash leaving the country. The balance of trade was definitely in favor of the United States. A number of restrictions and tariffs were imposed on imported vehicles and foreign manufacturers expelled!! The government did everything to encourage domestic producers!

In 1938 the Koromo factory was expanded with production increasing from 100 cars per month to 1.500 to 2.000 per month.

To become self-sufficient Toyoda machine tool works and Aichi steel works were formed. These companies would be responsible for body pressing. However most of the bodywork was had made with steel imported from America for years to come.

Then the war put everything on hold. It wasn't until 1947 when they resumed production. At this time they also started building a four-wheel drive vehicle. Later to become the famous Land Cruiser!

They started a new class of car at this time. The S series. The Toyopet was the first. With a 27hp engine, and compact design. This was the first car to incorporate the small efficient engines with a smaller body. Hence the economy car!! They were more affordable for the Japanese to run over the big American beasts!!

Even with this new car and increased production, they still weren't producing as many cars as they were during the pre-war production. In spite of this, employment within Toyota was rising. They formed Nippondenso. Nippondenso produced the electrical items used in Toyota’s. Along with Nippondenso the Toyoda spinning and weaving company produced cloth and thread used in the automotive and domestic field.

With such expansion and low production, they didn't have to funds to finance it. The workforce went on a long and protracted strike. The only strike in Toyota's history!

Following this Kiichiro resigned. Taking his place was Eiji Toyoda. Kiichiro died two years later in 1952.

Eiji visited Ford in America with a member of his team Shoichi Saito to take the latest ideas in car production. They stayed for three months. And within a decade had transformed their methods to become one of the most efficient factories in Japan. Much of this was based on the suggestive system. The company invited workers to suggest ways to improve production. This system is still in use today. In 1993 929,257 ideas were submitted. Out of these 99% were adopted!

The Korean War gave Toyota Motor Company a good boost receiving a large order of military equipment.

Although Mr. Toyoda was happy for his company's growth, he also was feeling kind of guilty that he was benefiting from another countries war countries war!!

Toyota continued growing, building new plants, one of which was dedicated to cars only. This is the Motomachi plant. They really didn't get a great response from the Americans when they started importing car's/ they sent over the Crown. The Americans didn't take to this car. In fact Donald Frey of Ford said it was a heap of junk!

Toyota produced the Corolla. This car almost immediately became the best seller in Japan. Toyota built a few sports cars. One being the Celica, a great car still today. One was the 2000GT. Only 351 were built. This is a very rare car today and very expensive if you should find one. They did race this car for a short time. In fact Carrol Shelby raced a 2000GT for Toyota.

They went for the European market, which worked out good for them. I think Europeans were not so afraid of the smaller car... After all. At the time us Americans were driving huge cars, or muscle cars. Fuel was cheep!!!!!! And who wanted one of them little things????

Toyota never gave up and grew to become one of the worlds largest auto manufactures...

Timing is everything!!!

I have to give my opinion on a most critical opportunity for Toyota.... It was the mid 70's. America was into fuel crisis after fuel crisis... At the same time it seemed like the American cars were going a bit down hill as far as dependability. At this time the Corolla, Corona, Trucks were coming into the country weather the people wanted to buy them or not. Toyota wasn't backing out of this market!

So people started to check them out. People who wanted to do what they could about saving money. Buying less fuel!

To many it was a surprise! The Toyota was very dependable. And fuel-efficient. As far as my career with working on cars. This is when I saw Toyota's gained good popularity...

Then the ball rolled as far as growth in this country. The Corolla was one of the best Toyota's ever built! It still is a big seller today!

Today Toyota builds most of the vehicles we see right here in this country, they have many plants through out. So I feel good when I buy a Toyota knowing Americans build it.

You can't say that about a few American cars today. Some are built in Mexico or Canada. Odd isn't it?

Well that’s kind of a short history of one of the most popular cars today. I feel this was because of good quality control. Paying attention to what the workers had to input... And using quality parts when assembling them...

I attended Toyota schools for ten years. What I felt was that they wanted it fixed right the first time. And check the little things before condemning major components. And they were right! They taught me to be professional and have some class. After all! Toyota is one class act!!

     Charles D. Miller